Thursday, April 21, 2011

Maundy Thursday Falls on a Thursday Again This Year

No posting till next Monday. Regards for Easter, and spare a thought for today, Maundy Thursday, a term that confused me a little as a kid. It apparently comes from mandatum, "commandment," referring to Jesus' instructions to His disciples at the Last Supper.

Maundy Thursday in 1997, March 27 as it happened, was also the day that the pregnancy that became Lilly was medically confirmed. That gave me a fair amount to think about the rest of the day.

There won't be another April 24 Easter until 2095, at least in the Western tradition (the "Gregorian" Easter). As for the East, an April 24 Easter will come around again in 2022. East and West are coinciding this year.

As for an April 25 Easter -- the latest possible date in the West, as far as I understand it -- the next one will be in 2038, so some of us might be around for that. The real rarity is a March 22 Easter, the earliest possible day. I doubt that any of us will see the next one, in 2285.